Four young male inmates being health at a Southern California youth correctional facility made accusations that a male staff member coerced them into performing sexual acts to gain contraband items and special privileges. The ensuing litigation resulted in a $10 million settlement on the part of the State of California.

A twenty-something female student attending Cal State Fullerton was allegedly encouraged by a University Professor to accompany him for drinks of whiskey in his office. The Professor then advised the student to masturbate for the next week as a stress reliever and to then report back to the Professor on her progress. The CSU educational system paid $92,000 to settle with the woman after she reported becoming fearful as a result of the interactions with the Professor and experiencing a decline in her overall “quality of life.”

And a female guard working at the California State Prison-Corcoran accused a fellow male guard of an ongoing pattern of inappropriate behaviors that included explicit comments, fixing his eyes on her breast and crotch areas, touching her without permission and even calling her at home. The state was settled in this matter for $750,000.

While the problems with sexual misconduct among members of the California Legislature have dominated the attention of the public it is apparent that the issue extends far beyond the actions at the Capitol building.

An investigation by the Sacramento Bee has revealed that $25 million has been paid by the State of California to settle alleged claims of sexual misconduct on the part of individuals working for the state in some capacity over the last three years. Taxpayer money was used to settle about $21 million of this amount while insurance at the two-year university systems covered the rest of the payouts.

Carolyn Pfanner, a member of the board for the Yolo County Taxpayers Association expressed outrage when confronted with these numbers. “Outrageous,” was the term used by Pfanner before speaking of the lack of respect being shown towards hard-working taxpaying citizens of the state.

Pfanner also expressed her disdain with the state for and has called the Governor’s office in response to the state’s unwillingness to provide public accountability for these matters.

In total, The Bee was able to identify 92 settlements reached in cases involving sexual harassment on the part of the state for a period starting on July 1, 2014, and ending June 30, 2017.